MAP06: Four Square (Claustrophobia 1024)

MAP06: Four Square is the sixth map of Claustrophobia 1024. It was designed by Eric Baker (The Green Herring), who also wrote the music track "In a Mad Rush" for this map.

Essentials
You begin facing four or six imps who are guarding a shotgun; on Ultra-Violence and Nightmare skill levels, the shotgun is placed in the center of the room and the imps will crowd around it. There are five switches in the room that must be flipped in sequence to open the north door; flipping each switch lowers the ledge around the next one, but only for a second so you must move quickly. Flip the center switch followed by the north-west, south-west, south-east and north-east switches to open the door, then kill the imps and shotgun guys waiting behind it before entering the next room to collect a chaingun. Flip the switch by the north wall to lower a lift and ride it up, walk east to another switch and flip it then head anti-clockwise around the ledge to find the blue keycard.

Drop to the ground and open the blue key door in the east wall, then immediately turn round and kill some shotgun guys that teleport behind you before entering the next room to face more shotgun guys as well as cacodemons. Take the super shotgun in the middle of the room then flip the switch here, kill any imps and chaingunners that appear then flip a second switch that has been revealed in the north-west corner to lower some steps in the south-west corner. Kill more imps and chaingunners that teleport in then go down the steps to a third switch; flipping it will raise more steps around the edge of the room, allowing you to climb up to the yellow keycard; watch out for more cacodemons teleporting in as you go.

Drop to the ground and open the south door to find Hell knights, shotgun guys and chaingunners guarding a rocket launcher, then flip the switch behind the west pillar (holding the red keycard) to reveal a second switch in the south-east corner. Kill the knight and zombies that teleport in then flip the second switch to reveal a third switch in the opposite corner, along with another knight and two more zombies. Flip the third switch to lower a lift by the second, ride it up then run north-east to a fourth switch that will lower a second lift, allowing you to reach the red keycard. Kill the shotgun guys (and knights on Hurt Me Plenty or higher) that appear below then open the west door to get back to the starting area - the "door" behind the starting point will open to reveal the exit switch, but you will have to push past three knights and/or barons of Hell to reach it.

Secrets

 * 1) In the north-west room, there is a pair of metal panels on the northern wall next to the blue key door. Press them to reveal a switch. Flip the switch, and a berserk pack will appear beneath your feet. (sector 120)

Current records
The records for the map at the Doom Speed Demo Archive are:

The data was last verified in its entirety on December 21, 2021.

Things
This level contains the following numbers of things per skill level:

Technical information
In the second room, some of the walls feature visible upper, middle, and lower textures, but act like solid walls. These were created by creating dummy sectors in each of these walls, assigning them the same heights for the floor and ceiling, and using the height transfer linedef type to set them to the appropriate height for the middle textures to appear.

In addition, in the north-east room, several cacodemons are summoned into the level using a conveyor belt effect, which is normally never possible to do with flying monsters or hanging objects. This is accomplished by assigning a height transfer effect to the sector containing the cacodemons to make the sector "underwater." This was added to the level after the effect was pointed out by Andrew Apted in a "mapping tips and tricks" thread started by Sarah Mancuso.

Inspiration and development
This level was started on October 17, 2008, during the alpha stage of Claustrophobia 1024's development, for the ill-fated sequel, Constriction 1024. When development of Claustrophobia 1024 resumed due to the poor quality of several of the existing levels, Baker signed onto the project, and resumed work on this level after finishing. An unfinished version of the level was posted on February 3, 2009, to solicit comments and suggestions, and it was finished on February 12, 2009. It was updated on February 20, May 21, and June 7 of the same year, to fix various bugs, make suggested edits, and add new background music.

The working title of this level was Four Rooms, after the 1995 anthology film. On the same day the level was finished, Baker asked for suggestions on whether the name should be changed, with three of the four suggested titles being Metal Mayhem, Metal Massacre, and The Middle of Nowhere. The last of these, Four Square, became the final title, and refers to a which is played with four players on a square court divided into quadrants.